My wife and I love to be spontaneous on occasion. It's fun, exciting, and puts a spark into things. So, yes, yesterday was a spontaneous journey into the unknown... Well, we drove 95 miles to go get a coffee-flavored iced drink. But, how could I possibly deny my wife when she looks at me with those huge eyes? So, we spent a wonderful day going out and buying cold coffee. Hmm, now that I write that out it seems a bit ... odd. Oh, well. It was fun.
In the same way, stories don't need to keep to a tight schedule all the time. Let the characters out and be spontaneous. You'll be surprised where some ideas go. After all, the Lord of the Rings wouldn't be nearly as fun without Tom Bombadil (sadly not in the movie, but marvelously memorable stuff). Yes, a plot should be tight (where everything is necessary and needed), but side trips fulfil an essential task of flushing out characters and developing them beyond the direct story. When your characters live and breathe past the scope of the current crisis, audiences are pulled in and sympathize better. I'm a big believer in making characters sympathetic and understandable.
One of my favorite movies, "Shaolin Soccer," is basically about a guy and a gal and how they are martial arts masters who end up being expert soccer players--trust me, it's great. There is one scene where the guy is trying to woo the gal and suddenly a dance number interrupts the action. It comes so far out of the sidelines you never expect it, and it totally works! It's brilliant. Without that jolt of spontaneity, the characters actually fall pretty flat. But, toss it in and we are immediately on the guy's side as he does his best. I love it.
Remember, not everything has to be perfectly lined up. Let a bit of crooked exploration happen.
- M
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